On 9 March 2020 the Council of Europe Project “Human rights and women in the armed forces of Armenia’’ (the “Project”) organised two expert thematic consultations in the Ministry of Defence of Armenia. Both consultations were conducted by the UK Judge Advocate General His Honor Judge Jeff Blackett, the expert invited by the Council of Europe.
The first one was organised with the personnel of the Human Rights Integrity Building Centre of the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Armenia. In total 15 persons participated at the consultations, main focus of which was on the disciplinary offences. During the consultations the UK Judge Advocate General His Honor Judge Jeff Blackett presented the legal framework and practice related to the questions of the effective investigation of disciplinary offences and the issue of adequate response (proportionality of punishment); the relationship between disciplinary liability and criminal liability: how to ensure that the members of the armed forces committing an act that is both disciplinary and criminal in nature and to be not punished twice for the same offence; grave disciplinary violations and their punishment: placement in a disciplinary company (isolation) as a severe form of punishment for conscripts and disciplinary violations committed by officers and non-commissioned officers and internal investigation procedures.
The second expert consultations was held with gender advisors and personnel of the Unit on the Work with Women Servicepersons of the Department on Moral and Psychological Support of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia. In total 25 persons participated at the consultations, focused on preventive actions to be undertaken by the Ministry of Defence after the relevant court judgments on violence, in particular violence against women servicepersons in the armed forces. Specific topics of discussion included the military contribution to the prevention of violence, especially violence against women servicepersons, the role of the Unit on the Work with Women Servicepersons in supporting locally led prevention initiatives, the actions to be undertaken by the General Staff of the Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defence in implementing gender violence prevention programmes and implementing the concepts of ‘understand-engage early-act-endure-assess’, and last but not least, on the role of gender advisors in informing, educating and advising on relevant court decisions.
This was the first expert consultations with the gender advisors, who have been recently elected in the military units. This initiative was highly welcomed by the participants. The Colonel Lieutenant Colonel Armine Grigoryan, the head of the Unit on the Work with Women Servicepersons, expressed a hope that the close cooperation with the Project will be continued in the process of training gender advisors, as well as enhancing the capacities of the newly established Unit on the work with Women Servicepersons.
The Project is implemented by the Council of Europe within the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Armenia 2019-2022 and funded by the United Kingdom. Action Plan level funding is provided by Germany, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Sweden.
